Most scenes together: Jeff Bailey/Jeff Markham & Kathie Moffat (15), Jeff Bailey/Jeff Markham & Whit Sterling (7), Jeff Bailey/Jeff Markham & Meta (4)
Whit my friend, there's a million dames in this world. They all look like her.
No they don't. So she was here.
According to all available evidence, she was.
Maybe you should have sent Stephanos. Could you find one dame in a million, Joe?
Joe And one with forty grand.
Whit wants to get Eels out of the picture. He wants to square an old account with me. Two birds together...A redhead takes me up to visit the chump who has to go. I have a drink. Leave my prints around. I leave and somebody gets him. Eels dies and the tax papers...They were in the briefcase that Meta took, weren't they? Papers go back to Whit. I'm the fall guy. There's only one thing missing - a plant. What was there to give me a motive? I wouldn't kill a guy for a martini. Tell me Kathie.
They made me sign it.
Sign what?
An affidavit.
Go on.
I couldn't help it Jeff. They made me sign it. I swear I couldn't help it. They said they'd find the body and tell the police I killed him.
Fisher. Then you did tell them about Fisher when you told them I did it! Perfect. Foolproof and beautiful. That Whit can really hate, can't he? You said it once, he can remember.
I never stopped hating him Jeff. I couldn't help myself. I was caught too. We don't have to be against each other now.
Aren't we?
No, we can break out of it. All we need is the briefcase. Then we've got them, Jeff. We can get anything we want from them.
I'd like that affidavit you signed.
We can get it. It's in Eels' office safe. We can make Meta get it. We can make them do anything.
Sure.
Oh, Jeff. You ought to have killed me for what I did a moment ago.
There's time.
No, you won't. I've never stopped loving you. I was afraid and no good, but I never stopped, even if you hated me. Did you?
Yes.
But you don't now.
No.
We could be together again, in a way we never were. We can go back to Acapulco and start all over as though nothing had happened. [They kiss]
You didn't have to kill him.
Yes I did. You wouldn't have killed him. You would have beaten him up and thrown him out.
You didn't have to do it.
You wouldn't have killed him. He would have been against us. Gone to Whit.
You take the frame off me. You pin the Eels murder on Joe.
Sure, sure.
I get a modest settlement, say, oh, say $50,000. That should be enough for me to spend my waning years in Mazatlan. Not Acapulco, because I'd keep thinking about you Kathie, up there in the women's prison in Tehatchapie. It won't be too bad. Hills all around you. Plenty of sun. You make me nervous. You'd be happier if you let the cops have her Whit. That's what you'll have to do. Somebody's got to take the rap for Fisher's murder. It's not going to be me.
Wait a minute. I'm not framing any woman.
When did you reform? I wouldn't try it, Whit, you're out of shape. Besides, it's not a frame. She shot him.
He was going to kill you.
You see Whit, self-defense. A cinch to beat. She might not even have to do time.
I'll say you killed him. They'll believe me.
Do you believe her? Go on Kathie, tell him about Joe. Last time I saw him, he was in the East Walker River.
I didn't send him after Jeff. It was his own idea.
He slipped and fell. When I got there, it was too late. That's a mean river.
He was trailin' you?
Well, you don't go fishing with a .45 in your hand.
Joe Stephanos I often wondered what happened to him. Then one day I'm breezing through here, and there's his name up on a sign.
It's a small world.
Joe Stephanos Yeah. Or a big sign.
Don't you see you've only me to make deals with now?
Build my gallows high, baby.
No, no, we're starting all over. I want to go back to Mexico. I want to walk out of the sun again and find you waiting. I want to sit in the same moonlight and tell you all the things I never talked to you - till you don't hate me, till sometime you'll love again.
They'll always be looking for us. They won't stop till we die.
I don't care. Just so they find us together. If you're thinking of anyone else, don't. It wouldn't work. You're no good for anyone but me. You're no good and neither am I. That's why we deserve each other. [They kiss]
I didn't know what I was doing. I, I didn't know anything except how much I hated him. But I didn't take anything. I didn't, Jeff. Don't you believe me?
Baby, I don't care. [They kiss]
I had to come back. What else could I do?
You can never help anything can you? You're like a leaf that the wind blows from one gutter to another. You can't help any thing you do, even murder.
You can't say it was that.
I can say one thing. I buried him. What did you tell him? About us? But you couldn't help it, could you Kathie?
He knew it. He looked right into me. He knew it.
How much?
What, Jeff?
I mean about Fisher. Did he look into you for that too?
No, I didn't tell that.
Don't lie to me.
I didn't. I wouldn't tell him that. I wouldn't tell anyone that. I swear it Jeff. Believe me.
Sure, sure I believe you.
I didn't know what to do. I was always afraid of him, and afraid of what I'd done. I couldn't live that way anymore. I couldn't stand it. Jeff, I've missed you. I've wondered about you, prayed you'd understand. Can you understand?
You prayed, Kathie?
Can't you even feel sorry for me?
I'm not going to try.
Jeff.
Look, just get out, will you? I have to sleep in this room. Just leave it where it all is. Get out.
Jeff, we've been wrong a lot, and unlucky a long time. I think we deserve a break.
We deserve each other.
Things are mixed up.
Bailey mix 'em?
I can't talk on the phone. We're trying to get a plane.
But you're bringing me something.
No Whit. I can't explain now darling.
When are you taking me back?
Is that why you kissed me?
No.
Whit didn't die.
He didn't?
No.
Then, why...
He just wants you back.
I hate him. I'm sorry he didn't die.
Give him time.
You are taking me back.
There's no hurry.
I could have run away last night.
I'd find you.
Yes, I believe you would. You're glad you did?
I don't know.
I am.
There was a little business, about forty thousand dollars.
I didn't take it.
How did you know it was taken?
It's what you meant. I don't want any thing of his or any part of him.
Except his life.
You don't know Whit. He won't forget.
Everybody forgets.
Not Whit.
So we'll send him a postcard every Christmas.
Jeff, I'm glad you're not afraid of him.
I've been afraid of half the things I ever did.
And this time?
I'm only afraid you might not go.
Don't be. I'll be there tomorrow. Love me?
Mmm, hmm.
Poco?
What's that?
Little.
Mucho.
You know, you're a curious man.
You're gonna make every guy you meet a little bit curious.
That's not what I mean. You don't ask questions. You don't even ask me what my name is.
All right, what's your name?
Kathie.
I like it.
Or where I come from?
I'm thinkin' about where we're going.
Don't you like it in here?
I'm just not ready to settle down.
Shall I take you somewhere else?
You're going to find it very easy to take me anywhere.
You are an idiot.
So's he.
You think so?
Why not? He's in love with you.
Nice
Awfully cold around the heart.
